Recycling hardwood windows

[brianc]

Hi all,
I'm removing 12 windows as part of a farmhouse renovation and I would like to recycle the hardwood frames if possible. They were installed approx. 15 years ago and still in great condition but I'm not sure what I could use them for. I've been thinking of buying a planer/thicknesser and this might just be the excuse I need...

I would love to hear suggestions on what you would use them for, I need ideas!
Brian.

 

[Dionysios]

I am doing the same currently, but I am using a bandsaw to turn the window sills into boards. After the bandsaw I will use hand tools.

Possibly I will make a dinner table if I get enough timber.

 

[Ollie78]

Firewood probably. The trouble is the effort requred to reclaim fairly small stock. You dont really want to put secondhand stuff over a planer untill you are very sure its clean.

Ollie

 

[Dionysios]

The size of the reclaimed stock can vary in accordance with the initial window sill size. In my case I've manage to get boards up to 20cm wide, 2,2m long and 4cm thick. As for the possible nails and other metal or plastic stuff it was a surprising low amount easy to get rid of. I've cut through a couple of hiden panel pins though.
But I agree that a planer isn't the best thing to use in order to reclaim timber.

 

[thetyreman]

what about chopping boards?

 

[Ttrees]

Depends how hefty the frames are really, and what type they are.
I'd wager that a tablesaw would be more practical, as you might need cut and snap out
rebates which have putty, some near stone hardness.

The putty is the last part to be dealt with after deglazing, denailing,
face and edge planing to register against the fence, then you can find the setting which
cuts close to the putty without contact.
(This is a mock up below, just to demonstrate that you might need some sort of floating guard, and not one attached the the RK)
I don't see how one could do this efficiently without, and with heftier stuff than this, you end up with a cut off which might be good for edging,Kumiko, bee hives or whatever use you might have for some sticks.and laminate the rest to make what you like.

Totally worth it if you're a scrimper, or feel the need to be resourceful, but it would definitely need be a tropical timber like iroko, which chances are it is,
or other hardwood in good nick for it to be worth it for me.


When you are finished salvaging the very last piece, then that's when you NEED to go searching for more, local adds, skips building sites and so on, as only then you will be gifted by more from the Iroko man.

GOOD LUCK, keep safe and please the spirit with hard work.

Tom

 

[clogs]

In my early days for extra money....
I used to cut up old hard wood window frames and (remember those old wooden fold up deck chairs)
that were made from Beech...
the UVPC window firms were very happy to GIVE away old windows for free.....along with the beach vendors for the chairs....now u could use free ads etc...
I'd clean em all up and make contrasting bread boards and rolling pins with them....
50 years on I still have n use my mothers old ones....
PS I used proper Casemite glue u made up from powder n water.....no idea what I'd use now.....
things like egg cups and a stand and kids toys are also good.....
plus an upright kitchen paper roll stand.....millions of things....
were gonna do something similar with Olive wood off cuts.....sell em at a car boot for Xmas...
or give aways.....
anything we earn like that, the money goes to the Suda Bay animal rescue center plus my wife and I have the fun of working together.....stange as that may seem.....




Ps Buy a metal detector wand and just use one of thos new circ carbide sawblades that dont mind nails n screws......
plus use a belt sander for close to accuracy to save the planer......
I have to build for a guy a bench belt sander like Stumpy Nubbs so he can surface used pallet wood for his furniture.....PS he sell everything he make with ease.....
so get going and have some fun....
PS please show us what u make.....

 

[clogs]

these we are fostering, now 10 weeks old....found new born in a bin....
Bruce, Arty, and Bernie....
they will be gone in another month or so ready for the next arrivals....
We've lived here for 2 years now and have fostered over 20-25 pups....loosing count now.....hahaha....
if u want a dog/cat take a resue animal pls....well at least look at em....

 

[kinverkid]

I made this Murphy bar almost entirely from reclaimed window frames. You can see the plugged holes here and there. I use an old wooden plane re-purposed as a scrub plane to remove paint and crud from reclaimed wood before putting it through the planer and thicknesser. It's much easier for me to sharpen plane irons than planer blades.

 

[kinverkid]

Ps Buy a metal detector wand and just use one of thos new circ carbide sawblades that dont mind nails n screws......
plus use a belt sander for close to accuracy to save the planer......

Totally agree. An earth magnet would be a good addition too.

 

[Jones]

If they're in good nick,sell them on Facebook marketplace or eBay then use the money to buy something you want.

 

[Alasdair]

I have an old hand plane which I don't like much. Not sure of the make but its too light compared to my others but I use it for removing paint etc once I have checked for nails. If I do hit one its not the end of the world and I just resharpen it. I also use a Nokta pointer metal detetector to check before cutting.

 

[Richard_C]

Depends a bit on your 'life resources' - if you have plenty of time on your hands or if cash is very limited, and you have space give it a go perhaps.

A lot depends on the frames - are they sufficiently chunky cross sectio to get something worthwhile out of as an earlier poster did.

I kept some door frames that were replaced by sliding doors last year, good softwood from 35 years ago and you can tell from the growth rings they were much slower grown. I hate throwing stuff away. Plan was (still is, maybe) to trim them down to get handy lengths of 2x1 or similar. Did one, took ages, would rather be making stuff. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Likely the rest will be chainsawed into short lengths for the woodburner. On the plus side I do have next winter's worth of kindling already chopped. The threshold/cills are some kind of hardwood and I've used a few bits but even that seems hardly worth the effort. Mostly they are in the way and I sort of wish I had got the fitters to take them away with the rest of the (starting to rot) old doors etc.

In terms of other uses for your frames, I wondered about a lean to cold frame or just a lid for a concrete block cold frame, might get a few years out of it. But then it won't be toughened glass so a bit risky and if you want toughened you might as well buy cold frame.

Each to their own - only you know what kit, space and (importantly) time you have.

 

[Lathe User]

Hi all,
I'm removing 12 windows as part of a farmhouse renovation and I would like to recycle the hardwood frames if possible. They were installed approx. 15 years ago and still in great condition but I'm not sure what I could use them for. I've been thinking of buying a planer/thicknesser and this might just be the excuse I need...

I would love to hear suggestions on what you would use them for, I need ideas!
Brian.

Bathroom furniture- of any kind. When was the last chrome bathroom stand/ tidy you saw that hadn’t started rusting around the weld joints. It could be as simple as three open boxes supported / stacked on four thin uprights .

 

[nickds1]

Make a sauna!

This is a salvaged (from a skip!) Hardwood framed double glazed toughened glass patio door, trimmed and turned sideways.

Further upcycling - the door from our old freezer repurposed for the sauna door:

 

[brianc]

Thanks everyone, some great feedback there for me to think about

I hate throwing things away that could be repurposed although this would be a lot of work for slim stock. I'll have a go at the largest window along with an external door before deciding on the rest.

I have just dismantled an oak staircase that's in great condition so will definitely spend some time salvaging the wood. The two stringers are approx. 3.2m x 300mm x 40mm and the 10 treads are similar in size...

 

[Richard_C]

Mostly they are in the way and I sort of wish I had got the fitters to take them away with the rest of the (starting to rot) old doors etc.

Well I did use them in the end, hard work to resaw and not worth the effort for softwood of that size. Last week in the warm weather I was getting the garden ready for spring and thought the french beans might do better in a raised bed. 2 door frames, one atop the other, 4 pilot holes drilled and 4 great huge big nails. Job done in 10 minutes. Open end filled with some other leftovers. I know they will rot but will still give me a good few years before they do. Nothing wasted, result!

(bit like old times, when I was in big company management I sometimes felt that I was being paid to hand out corporate bulls*it. Last week I got a cubic m of well rotted real horses*it and spent a couple of days shovelling that instead -- some of it into my new raised bed)